Trial begins for man accused in fatal DWI hit-and-run crash

Opening statements were delivered Tuesday in the trial of a man accused of killing a Miller Place mother in a hit-and-run crash.

Christopher Campbell, 37, faces vehicular manslaughter, DWI and leaving the scene of a fatal accident charges in the death of Tracy Mangino. Prosecutors say she was 100 feet from her home when she was struck by a box truck driven by Campbell in October 2014.

In Central Islip court, prosecutors said that Mangino was walking home from a neighborhood bar along North Country Road when she was struck. They added that Campbell was drinking that night and that the accident was recorded by a home security camera.

Campbell's attorney questioned the conditions of the road that night, saying it was very dark at the time the incident took place. The attorney said Mangino may have been in the road when she was hit. Campbell's attorney says other motorists called 911 to report a woman that fit Mangino's description had been stumbling along the road just before the incident.

"I know that they are going to try and make her into something she wasn't," said her daughter Serena. "I know the truth. I know how much of a good person she was."